The performance of plants in any one generation can be influenced not just by the prevailing biotic and abiotic factors, but also by those factors experienced by the parental generation. These maternal effects have been recorded in an array of plant species, but most studies tend to focus on abiotic factors over two generations. Here we show that maternal effects in the annual forb Senecio vulgaris may be influenced by beneficial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and insect herbivory over four successive generations. These effects were very much determined by seed provisioning, wherein C:N:P ratios were altered by both fungi and aphids. There was little evidence of epigenetic changes induced by the fungi or insects, instead the driving forces seemed to be allocation of N and P to the seeds. However, changes in seed chemistry were not cumulative over generations, often decreases in seed nutrient content were followed by recovery in subsequent generations. The changes in seed stoichiometry can have important consequences for viability, germination and subsequent seedling growth rates. We conclude that studies of maternal effects need to be conducted over multiple generations, and also need to be multifactorial, involving variation in abiotic factors such as water and nutrients, combined with biotic factors.

中文翻译：

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昆虫和菌根真菌影响千里光的母体种子供应


任何一代植物的表现不仅会受到主要生物和非生物因素的影响，还会受到亲本一代所经历的那些因素的影响。这些母体效应已在一系列植物物种中被记录下来，但大多数研究往往集中在两代人的非生物因素上。在这里，我们表明一年生杂草千里光的母体效应可能连续四代受到有益的丛枝菌根真菌和昆虫食草的影响。这些影响在很大程度上取决于种子供应，其中 C：N：P 比率被真菌和蚜虫改变。几乎没有证据表明真菌或昆虫诱导了表观遗传变化，相反，驱动力似乎是将 N 和 P 分配给种子。然而，种子化学的变化并不是几代人累积的，种子养分含量的降低往往在后代中恢复。种子化学计量的变化会对活力、发芽和随后的幼苗生长速率产生重要影响。我们得出的结论是，母体影响的研究需要多代进行，并且还需要是多因素的，涉及水和营养等非生物因素的变化，以及生物因素。